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RHA sponsors new security escort ser rice
By Maisa Taha
News Editor
A trek across campus after
dark is hardly an inviting
prospect to many students, but
Wesleyan's Residence Hall
Association (RHA) has con-structed
an escort service
designed to make these moon-lit
journeys as safe as an old-time
stroll in the park.
"We wanted to get some-thing
started this year to pro-vide
a service to the women of
Wesleyan so they don't feel
threatened in any way. This is
your home away from home,
and why should you feel
threatened here?" said Gwen
Alexander, RHA vice presi-dent.
The escort service has been
Alexander's pet project for two
months now, though the idea
originated earlier this year.
"We had tossed the idea
around since the middle of first
semester, but it didn't really
come to light until the recent
Argus coverage of security
problems," Alexander said.
The RHA escort service
includes a list of 23 men who
have been trained and have
signed contracts pledging to be
safe, courteous and prompt.
Alexander hopes that with rep-resentatives
from all the resi-dence
halls and with fellow
students acting as escorts,
women will feel more comfort-able
about using the service.
"I wanted to see if there were
faults in the [university's]
security system or if women
here were just really bold,"
Alexander said.
Rosters of the escorts' names
and phone numbers were print-ed
and distributed Thursday to
mailboxes in all the women's
residence halls and sorority
houses. Larger rosters includ-ing
escorts' residence halls will
be posted by phones in all cam-pus
buildings and in the fresh-man
parking lot.
Alexander said RHA plans to
continue the escort service next
year, starting earlier and
expanding to include more
people.
Senate reps tour
new Shirk Center
The Shirk Athletic Center is projected to finish this October.
Speakers define harassment
By Sarah Ziah
Staff Writer
If a co-worker comments on
how nice your dress looks, is
this sexual harassment? Or if
your boss takes you out to din-ner
and insists on paying?
When does behavior cross the
line between friendliness and
abuse?
Attorney Marcia Boumil and
psychologist Dr. Joel Fried-man
addressed the sexual
harassment question last
Thursday in a program spon-sored
by Wesleyan's Current
Issues Committee. "Sexual
Harassment: What it is, What
it isn't" aimed at identifying
sexual harassment, its causes,
its effects on the victim and
possible legal responses.
Boumil and Friedman are co-authors
of a book by the same
title.
"Statistics indicate that two
out of three women, at least at
some point in their student or
working lives, will be victims
of sexual harassment," Boumil
said. To bring this statistic
home, she asked women in the
audience to consider that this
meant the person on each side
of them could be directly
affected.
To the men in the audience,
she said, "these women are
your wives, your girlfriends,
perhaps your sister, even your
daughters. Everybody is a vic-tim."
Boumil began by throwing
out scenarios, trying to get the
audience to identify what kind
of behavior constitutes sexual
harassment.
"Most of us aren't sure what
it depends upon; what it ulti-mately
depends upon is how
see HARASSMENT p. 4
By Maisa Taha
News Editor
Though hard hats are hardly
appropriate garb for exercise,
the new Shirk Athletic Center
won't be seeing t-shirts and
tennis shoes for some months
to come.
The huge structure rising on
the north side of Emerson
Street is changing Wesleyan's
skyline, and last week, Student
Senate representatives toured
the complex with administra-tors
and a site manager.
The Shirk Center is divided
into an upper spectator level,
which includes offices, class-rooms
and a concession area;
and a lower participant level,
where all playing surfaces and
locker rooms are located.
From the Emerson St. side-walk
as well as from inside the
lobby, one will be able to look
down through skylights into
the back half of the weight and
exercise room. The racquet-ball
courts each have one full
glass wall, and a walkway
runs between and above the
performance gym and activi-ties
center, all to offer the best
possible view.
"This is a very open kind of
building. The minute you
come in you'll know what
kind of thing goes on here,"
said Ken Browning, vice pres-ident
for business and finance.
The weight and exercise
room is L-shaped, with the
lighter aerobic machines in the
front and the free weights in
the back. This way, people
who want a lighter workout
will not have to maneuver
around the heavier equipment.
The performance gym will
seat 2,500 people, on four sets
of bleachers surrounding the
court. The bleachers will
retract to allow for more
space. There is also a practice
gym located beside the main
one.
The activities center, which
lies behind the performance
gym, will contain a 200-meter
rubberized track with four
multi-use courts for tennis,
basketball or volleyball. Cur-tains
will divide these courts
and can be arranged to create
larger or smaller areas. There
will be enough room for all
track and field events in this
area, along with room for
baseball batting cages or other
equipment.
"Our goal in building
[Shirk] was to try to make cer-tain
at any time of the year that
there's some recreational
activity that a student can do,"
Browning said.
Colin Logue, a Shirk site
manager, estimated that con-struction
will be completed by
the beginning of October.

The Argus, Illinois Wesleyan University; printed by The Pantagraph, Bloomington, IL from 1894-2009 and P&P Press, Peoria, IL from 2009-present.

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RHA sponsors new security escort ser rice
By Maisa Taha
News Editor
A trek across campus after
dark is hardly an inviting
prospect to many students, but
Wesleyan's Residence Hall
Association (RHA) has con-structed
an escort service
designed to make these moon-lit
journeys as safe as an old-time
stroll in the park.
"We wanted to get some-thing
started this year to pro-vide
a service to the women of
Wesleyan so they don't feel
threatened in any way. This is
your home away from home,
and why should you feel
threatened here?" said Gwen
Alexander, RHA vice presi-dent.
The escort service has been
Alexander's pet project for two
months now, though the idea
originated earlier this year.
"We had tossed the idea
around since the middle of first
semester, but it didn't really
come to light until the recent
Argus coverage of security
problems," Alexander said.
The RHA escort service
includes a list of 23 men who
have been trained and have
signed contracts pledging to be
safe, courteous and prompt.
Alexander hopes that with rep-resentatives
from all the resi-dence
halls and with fellow
students acting as escorts,
women will feel more comfort-able
about using the service.
"I wanted to see if there were
faults in the [university's]
security system or if women
here were just really bold,"
Alexander said.
Rosters of the escorts' names
and phone numbers were print-ed
and distributed Thursday to
mailboxes in all the women's
residence halls and sorority
houses. Larger rosters includ-ing
escorts' residence halls will
be posted by phones in all cam-pus
buildings and in the fresh-man
parking lot.
Alexander said RHA plans to
continue the escort service next
year, starting earlier and
expanding to include more
people.
Senate reps tour
new Shirk Center
The Shirk Athletic Center is projected to finish this October.
Speakers define harassment
By Sarah Ziah
Staff Writer
If a co-worker comments on
how nice your dress looks, is
this sexual harassment? Or if
your boss takes you out to din-ner
and insists on paying?
When does behavior cross the
line between friendliness and
abuse?
Attorney Marcia Boumil and
psychologist Dr. Joel Fried-man
addressed the sexual
harassment question last
Thursday in a program spon-sored
by Wesleyan's Current
Issues Committee. "Sexual
Harassment: What it is, What
it isn't" aimed at identifying
sexual harassment, its causes,
its effects on the victim and
possible legal responses.
Boumil and Friedman are co-authors
of a book by the same
title.
"Statistics indicate that two
out of three women, at least at
some point in their student or
working lives, will be victims
of sexual harassment," Boumil
said. To bring this statistic
home, she asked women in the
audience to consider that this
meant the person on each side
of them could be directly
affected.
To the men in the audience,
she said, "these women are
your wives, your girlfriends,
perhaps your sister, even your
daughters. Everybody is a vic-tim."
Boumil began by throwing
out scenarios, trying to get the
audience to identify what kind
of behavior constitutes sexual
harassment.
"Most of us aren't sure what
it depends upon; what it ulti-mately
depends upon is how
see HARASSMENT p. 4
By Maisa Taha
News Editor
Though hard hats are hardly
appropriate garb for exercise,
the new Shirk Athletic Center
won't be seeing t-shirts and
tennis shoes for some months
to come.
The huge structure rising on
the north side of Emerson
Street is changing Wesleyan's
skyline, and last week, Student
Senate representatives toured
the complex with administra-tors
and a site manager.
The Shirk Center is divided
into an upper spectator level,
which includes offices, class-rooms
and a concession area;
and a lower participant level,
where all playing surfaces and
locker rooms are located.
From the Emerson St. side-walk
as well as from inside the
lobby, one will be able to look
down through skylights into
the back half of the weight and
exercise room. The racquet-ball
courts each have one full
glass wall, and a walkway
runs between and above the
performance gym and activi-ties
center, all to offer the best
possible view.
"This is a very open kind of
building. The minute you
come in you'll know what
kind of thing goes on here,"
said Ken Browning, vice pres-ident
for business and finance.
The weight and exercise
room is L-shaped, with the
lighter aerobic machines in the
front and the free weights in
the back. This way, people
who want a lighter workout
will not have to maneuver
around the heavier equipment.
The performance gym will
seat 2,500 people, on four sets
of bleachers surrounding the
court. The bleachers will
retract to allow for more
space. There is also a practice
gym located beside the main
one.
The activities center, which
lies behind the performance
gym, will contain a 200-meter
rubberized track with four
multi-use courts for tennis,
basketball or volleyball. Cur-tains
will divide these courts
and can be arranged to create
larger or smaller areas. There
will be enough room for all
track and field events in this
area, along with room for
baseball batting cages or other
equipment.
"Our goal in building
[Shirk] was to try to make cer-tain
at any time of the year that
there's some recreational
activity that a student can do,"
Browning said.
Colin Logue, a Shirk site
manager, estimated that con-struction
will be completed by
the beginning of October.